Window tints for privacy altenative to blinds

[Jeba]

New here and looking for some suggestions. We just had our bedroom repainted and the hideous old windows replaced. Previously had curtains but only as a disguise measure. I actually prefer not to have any curtain, blinds, shades or anything at all. I like light coming in all the time, and at anytime, day or night I like to be able to look out the window with no obstructions, and I don't want to put up any more hardware. I like the clean, simple lines of the window by itself. Nonetheless, I still need something for privacy. In theory, some sort of one-way tint/film option would be ideal. I'd like an option that does not distort my view out the window, that is totally transparent, but does not allow viewing in from the outside. Any ideas or other types of suggestions that could help me achieve this? Thank you so much.

 

[Square Eye]

I don't know of any window tint that will provide privacy when it's dark outside and the lights are on inside.
I'm not saying that it doesn't exist, but if it does, I don't know about it.
There are several companies that have window tint available.

3MWindowFilms

llumar.com

gilafilms.com

johnsonwindowfilms.com

vista-films.com

 

[inspectorD]

You mean just like the 2 way mirrors in all the police stations?

Never thought of that but it might be cool.

 

[CraigFL]

The mirrored film will work until the night when it's dark outside and you turn on lights inside. Then you're in a fishbowl.

You need something like this:

http://www.smartglassinternational.com/spdover.html

 

[Jeba]

Thanks for the dialogue. Square Eye-I'll check out the links.
inspectorD: LOL, but yeah, I guess it would be like the police stations!
CraigFL: you make an excellent point, and I had wondered about that. Actually, I'm kind of already in a fish bowl since I have nothing on the windows, but the mirrored tint would probably really accent things at night though! That smart glass looks cool, but I'll bet it costs a fortune!

 

[Jeba]

Well, it was fun to at least wonder about tinting, but I figured the windows still needed perhaps a little something, and not left totally bare. No curtains, but the wood shutters I already had are back up and looking decent. Gives me enough privacy but still lets all the light in since they're only half the height of the window. It ends up working out just fine.

 

[makapangyarihan]

Maybe those window blinds that can be retracted would work for you when you really want some privacy. You can always pull them up when you don't want them blocking your view. I personally prefer bamboo blinds for my window treatments but that maybe because I'm Asian.

 

[harleysilo]

Yeah, so my wife and I our on a vacation down south of San Diego in the Baja with my best friend and his wife. We decided to stop prior to Esceida (sp?) to have some drinks at this resturant/bar. We turns out the have 5 rooms for rent upstairs, good food, cheap drinks on the beach so we say sure, for $25 a night how bad can it be? Right? So we got up to our rooms and I must say the bathroom was aweasome! Tile wall to wall and floor to ceiling. in the floor tub made out of tile and a huge shower with a floor to ceiling window looking out at the beach. Granted the construction was 15-20 yrs old, we arn't talking the Ritz here, but it was really nice.

To get to the point that afternoon we are outside look back at the bathroom window and it's mirror tint. I'm thinking that's sweet. So later that evening we take a shower, together, one thing leads to another, you get the picture. We walk outside a little later turn around and guess what, you can see everything plain as daylight through that window at night! Must of been some show for the folks on the beach!

 

[makapangyarihan]

Must of been some show for the folks on the beach!

Holy cow! That's a very funny story.

 

[wakewan]

There is a product called sheer shades which are kind of a hybrid between solar shades and horizontal blinds. I don't think that many people know about them. They can roll up completely out of the way, or act as a solar screen and provide decent room darkeing when you close the fabric slats...

 

[glennjanie]

Welcome ReallyLight:
You are correct; turn your lights on inside and its like the tint is not even there. It works fine in the daylight though.
Glenn

 

[Raynmann]

You could also look into privacy windows. Here is a link to a company that provides them.
SwitchLite

 

[jessicatyler]

Back around 2002 my sister and my mother decided to tint one of my mother's bathroom windows by frosting it and using little stencils... they may have been leaf shapes or something where the glass remained clear. I used the bathroom as I lived there at the time and I would say that it provided 100% privacy.